Captain Cooper spent part of his teen years growing up in Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. In 1974 he graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and was commissioned an Ensign in the Navy through the Reserve Officers Training Corps Program. He graduated from flight training and earned his wings as a Naval Flight Officer in 1975.
Captain Cooper has served with three Patrol Squadrons, flying the turbo-prop P-3C Orion subhunter as a designated Patrol Plane Mission Commander and Tactical Coordinator: Patrol Squadron NINETEEN, homeported at NAS Moffett Field, California, Patrol Squadron TWENTY TWO, and as the Commanding Officer of the Patrol Squadron SIX "Blue Sharks", homeported at NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii. He has deployed throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Captain Cooper has done two Pentagon tours, as a national security affairs action officer on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations and as the Asia-Pacific Desk Officer for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. He earned a Master's degree in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and attended Georgetown University as an Admiral Moreau scholar in the Fellows in Foreign Service Program.

Overseas assignments have included serving as the Operations Officer at the Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Center at Sigonella, Sicily, and as Officer in Charge of the Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Center at Misawa, Japan. Just prior to assuming command of the University of Kansas NROTC unit in August, 1999, he served as the Chief Staff Officer at Patrol Wing ONE/CTF 57/CTF 72, headquartered at Kamiseya, Japan.